Omni channel customer care system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10200536-B2
Application number	US-201615201243-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 1, 2016
Priority date	Jul 1, 2016
Publication date	Feb 5, 2019
Grant date	Feb 5, 2019

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, determining a service request and facilitating a first service session whereby customer equipment accesses the first service session via a first contact mode. A first contact resource is associated with the first service session, participating in a communication exchange with the customer equipment via the first service session according to the first contact mode. A customer inquiry is determined via the first customer service session. The customer inquiry is analyzed and a second customer contact resource is associated with the first service session based on the analysis of the customer inquiry. The second contact resource participates in the communication exchange via the first service session and according to a second contact mode. Other embodiments are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a processing system including a processor, a request from customer equipment to access a customer care service;
facilitating, by the processing system, a first interactive customer service session via a packet switched network responsive to the request, wherein the customer equipment enters the first interactive customer service session via a first interaction mode of a plurality of interaction modes;
joining, by the processing system, a first automated customer care service agent with the first interactive customer service session responsive to the facilitating of the first interactive customer service session, wherein the first automated customer care service agent participates in an interactive communication exchange with the customer equipment via the first interactive customer service session and according to the first interaction mode of the plurality of interaction modes;
detecting, by the processing system, a customer inquiry via the first interactive customer service session;
analyzing, by the processing system, the customer inquiry to obtain an analysis of the customer inquiry;
formulating, by the processing system, a response according to the analysis;
determining, by the processing system, a suitability of the response; and
joining, by the processing system, a second live customer care service agent with the first interactive customer service session based on the suitability of the response, wherein the second live customer care service agent participates in the interactive communication exchange via the first interactive customer service session and according to a second interaction mode of the plurality of interaction modes.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of interaction modes comprises voice, video, instant messaging, short message service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), hypertext, file transfer, data exchange or any combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first interaction mode and the second interaction mode are different interaction modes of the plurality of interaction modes, and wherein the first interactive customer service session comprises a message exchange through Internet devices using Internet Protocol addresses.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the processing system, an authorization of a user associated with the customer equipment,
wherein the customer equipment enters the first interactive customer service session based on the authorization.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first automated customer care service agent comprises a first software agent and wherein the second live customer care service agent interacts with equipment of a live human agent.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first interactive customer service session comprises a peer-to-peer communication exchange.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the processing system and responsive to the receiving of the request, a customer record associated with the customer equipment; and
sharing, by the processing system, the customer record with the first automated customer care service agent.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first interactive customer service session comprises a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Real Time Communications (Web RTC) application programming interface.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
facilitating, by the processing system, a second interactive customer service session between the first automated customer care service agent and the second live customer care service agent, wherein the second interactive customer service session is contemporaneous with the first interactive customer service session, and wherein the second interactive customer service session facilitates a private communication exchange between the first automated customer care service agent and the second live customer care service agent, without exposing the private communication exchange to the customer equipment.

10. A system, comprising:
a processing system including a processor; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
detecting a request to access customer care service;
facilitating a first interactive customer service session via a data network responsive to the request, wherein customer equipment accesses the first interactive customer service session via a first communication mode of a plurality of communication modes;
associating a first customer contact agent with the first interactive customer service session responsive to the facilitating of the first interactive customer service session, wherein the first customer contact agent participates in an interactive communication exchange with the customer equipment via the first interactive customer service session and according to the first communication mode of the plurality of communication modes, wherein the first customer contact agent comprises a software agent;
receiving a customer inquiry via the first interactive customer service session;
analyzing the customer inquiry to obtain an analysis of the customer inquiry;
formulating a response according to the analysis;
determining a suitability of the response; and
associating a second customer contact agent with the first interactive customer service session based on the suitability of the response, wherein the second customer contact agent participates in the interactive communication exchange via the first interactive customer service session and according to a second communication mode of the plurality of communication modes, and wherein the second customer contact agent interacts with equipment of a live human agent.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of communication modes comprises voice, video, instant messaging, hypertext, data or any combination thereof.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first communication mode and the second communication mode are different communication modes of the plurality of communication modes.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:
determining an authorization of a user associated with the customer equipment, wherein the customer equipment enters the first interactive customer service session based on the authorization.

14. The system of claim 10 ,
wherein the analyzing comprises determining rules for a topic of the customer inquiry, and
wherein the formulating the response comprises applying the rules to a content of the customer inquiry.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:
facilitating a second interactive customer service session between the first customer contact agent and the second customer contact agent, wherein the second interactive customer service session is contemporaneous with the first interactive customer service session, and wherein the second interactive customer service session facilitates a private communication exchange between the first customer contact agent and the second customer contact agent.

16. A non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
determining a customer care service request;
facilitating a first customer service session via a network responsive to the customer care service request, wherein customer equipment accesses the first customer serv

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp
• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Klein Reuben
• Gilbert Mazin E

Classifications

• H04M3/5191 Primary

  interacting with the Internet · CPC title

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title

• G06Q30/016

  After-sales · CPC title

• H04L51/04

  Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM] · CPC title

• H04L65/608

  Electricity · mapped topic